Navy
US Navy ship makes $39 million meth bust in Middle East waters
Stars and Stripes
May 17, 2022
An interdiction team from the destroyer USS Momsen boards a fishing vessel May 16, 2022, in the Gulf of Oman. The vessel was seized while transiting international waters. (Lily Gebauer/U.S. Navy)
A Navy destroyer patrolling in the Gulf of Oman this week seized $39 million in methamphetamine from a fishing ship in waters used to smuggle people, weapons and narcotics, U.S. 5th Fleet said Tuesday.
Discovery of more than 1,400 pounds of meth came after a U.S. Coast Guard interdiction team from the USS Momsen boarded the fishing vessel during a routine flag verification, according to a statement from the fleet.
Crew members tried to discard more than 60 bales of drugs as the Momsen approached, 5th Fleet said. The drugs and the vessel remain in U.S. custody.
Nine crew members identified as Iranian nationals will be transferred to a regional country for repatriation.
An MH-60R Seahawk from Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron 35, Detachment 1, provides aerial support to an interdiction team from the destroyer USS Momsen, as it approaches fishing vessel, May 16, 2022. The vessel was seized in international waters in the Gulf of Oman. (Lily Gebauer/U.S. Navy)
An interdiction team from the destroyer USS Momsen approaches a fishing vessel May 16, 2022. The vessel was seized in international waters in the Gulf of Oman. (Lily Gebauer/U.S. Navy)
Sailors aboard the destroyer USS Momsen account for bags of illegal narcotics May 16, 2022. The drugs were seized from a fishing vessel in the Gulf of Oman. (Lily Gebauer/U.S. Navy)
Bags of illegal narcotics are stacked aboard the destroyer USS Momsen, May 16, 2022, after being seized from a fishing vessel in the Gulf of Oman. (Lily Gebauer/U.S. Navy)
Momsen was patrolling in international waters Sunday and Monday in support of Combined Task Force 150, one of four task forces under the Combined Maritime Forces, according to the statement.
CTF 150 has made nine drug seizures in 2022, confiscating heroin, methamphetamine, amphetamine pills and hashish worth a combined $130 million, the Navy said.
Combined Maritime Forces includes 34 nations and is headquartered in Bahrain with U.S. Naval Forces Central Command and U.S. 5th Fleet.